


colon p

by oikawascrew



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 5sos are also in this, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No 5 Seconds of Summer, Alternate Universe - No One Direction, Angst, Lots of Unrequited Love, M/M, Teenage 5 Seconds of Summer, Teenage One Direction, Unrequited Love, ao3 put my tags out of order but you get the idea, ashton likes luke, im sorry, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, louis is confused, luke like louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-04-07 04:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19077283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oikawascrew/pseuds/oikawascrew
Summary: "you shouldn't be leaving your phone number on bathroom doors :p"-in which Louis keeps receiving random text messages throughout the day from a boy who tells bad jokes and has a good taste in bands-





	1. Chapter One

_unknown number: you shouldn't be leaving your phone number on bathroom doors :p_

Louis stared at the notification on his lock screen, and then checked the time. It was currently 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon and there was nothing Louis wanted more than to go home, crash on the couch for the whole weekend, play video games with Luke and end up asking Liam for the homework Monday morning, five minutes before class.

Coming to the conclusion that he hadn't paid attention to the first thirty minutes of class so there was no use to the last ten, he quickly keyed in his passcode and clicked into the messenger app. 

His eyes scanned over the message multiple times and multiple questions ran through his head.

What the hell?  Who is the person? Who the hell still uses  **colon p**? 

Louis looked up to see if the teacher had noticed him not paying attention, but then realized he couldn't care less if he got caught and quickly went back to his phone and the ambiguous message. 

Who needs accounting anyways? 

Louis continued to stare at the message thinking of how to reply. Wait, was he even going to reply? Louis debated for a few minutes and then clicked on the reply button and began typing out a response before quickly deleting it. 

He needed to say something funny. He knew he just had to. As he contemplated what he was going to say, he noticed a new chat bubble appear on his screen. 

_unknown number: shouldn't be on your phone during class louis x_

Startled, Louis dropped his phone onto his lap and looked up, searching the room for someone else who was on their phone. He scanned the classroom from where he was, in the back corner, and came to the conclusion that no one else was on their phone as they all were paying attention to the lesson and lazily taking down notes.

He picked up his phone from his lap and quickly unlocked it again before typing a quick and short message back to this person.  

_louis: who the hell is this?_

Louis didn't care anymore, he was determined to find out who was messaging him. As he typed out the message he could hear the pads of his fingers furiously typing on the buttons and he was pretty sure the guy beside him could as well. 

He noticed his friend, Liam, glance over at him with a questioning look but Louis just shook him off and went back to his phone waiting for a reply. 

_unknown number: blurry face_

Louis couldn't help but let out a laugh, catching the attention of his nosy classmates and teacher who all in one swift movement turned around and stared at him. He tried to brush it off by faking a cough but Louis seemed to have a reputation of causing trouble wherever he went, so no one believed this. 

After the attention left Louis and gone back to the rather boring accounting teacher, Louis quickly replied and turned his phone off for the remaining five minutes of class.

What a loser, making stupid twenty-one pilot references.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is no closer to finding out who 'unknown' is and makes a scene.

_unknown number: "i lost my maths book"_  
  
One week had passed since Louis started receiving these text messages and he was no closer to finding out who it was. The messages weren't exactly harmful or annoying, they were just there. Little statements about ordinary life or random questions you would expect from someone high on weed at three in the morning. The fact that he didn't know exactly who was sending these messages began to frustrate Louis and it was clear his friends had taken notice.   
  
His eyes read the latest message and he let out a frustrated groan before dropping his phone on the plastic lunch table. He let his head drop beside it, drowning out the loud noises that radiated from the cafeteria. Louis didn't know why he was getting so frustrated, they were just random messages. But these 'random messages' left Louis in a questioning state and constantly checking his phone for most of the school day.   
  
"What's wrong with you?" Luke called out, reaching over to grab Louis's phone and see what had caused his best friend to behave so weirdly. But before he could even try, Louis got up and slapped Luke's hand away.   
  
Even a stranger could tell how pissed off Luke was getting. I mean who wouldn't be? Your best friend constantly complaining about some random person's messages. And they won't even put down their phone and listen to you speak or even try to have a proper conversation. Luke was getting sick of this. He wanted Louis to pay attention to him.   
  
"Leave Lou alone Luke, he's probably just sexually frustrated. I mean when was the last time he got some action?" Ashton laughed, looking over at Luke for a reaction.   
  
"Shut the fuck up Ashton. You're just pissed because Luke's attention is all on me and not your sorry ass. And don't call me that again."   
  
Everyone stopped what they were doing, all startled by Louis's sudden outburst at Ashton. It was then Louis noticed how quiet the whole cafeteria had gotten and how all the attention was on him and his friend group.   
  
"Louis" Luke mumbled, shocked by what had just happened.   
  
Louis was shocked as well. What had he done? He didn't even mean what he said to Ashton. Ashton was one of his best friends and Louis had just shouted at him in front of the whole school.   
  
"Ashton, I'm so sorry, I don't-"   
  
But before Louis could finish his apology, Ashton stood up abruptly, grabbed his stuff and left.   
  
"What the hell dude?" Liam said, getting up and following Ashton to wherever he went.   
  
Louis groaned, dragging his hands through his brown hair, trying to calm himself down. The sound of the rest of his friends leaving the table filled his ears and he began to think everyone left him until he felt the presence of a certain blond hair boy sitting across from him. Louis looked up to see a disappointed Luke, fiddling with his hands.   
  
Luke was fighting an inner conflict on whether or not to stay with Louis and accept his apology or do the right thing and go comfort Ashton. He really wanted to just stay here with Louis, alone, but he knew how much it would hurt Ashton if he did.   
  
Louis looked up to see a disappointed Luke. Louis tried to apologize again but Luke just shook his head before getting up and leaving as well.   
  
Louis was alone now and he let his head rest against the now cold table. He closed his eyes for a split second but the sudden vibration of his phone against the table got him back up.   
  
He didn't need to check who the sender was because he already knew.   
  
His eyes scanned through the short message and he felt his heart hurt for a second before throwing his phone back onto the table, not caring if it broke.   
  
_unknown number: that was mean_


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis sees suspicious activity in the bathroom and gets assigned a new lab partner.

Louis slammed his locker door shut, narrowly missing the younger boy's head who was unfortunately placed under Louis's locker. Louis grabbed the biology book he placed on top of his locker, ignoring the fact that he still had to go on his tiptoes to reach them. He clutched his book under one arm and began to search the locker room for a familiar face.

  
After a few minutes of waiting, he spotted Liam walking towards the boy's bathroom. Liam physics's class was right beside the biology lab and Louis could use the company while going there. He was about to follow Liam in when he noticed Liam looking around suspiciously before closing the door and locking it. 

To say Louis was confused was an understatement. How the hell did Liam even get the keys for that door? Louis didn't even know there were keys to lock them sort of doors and what the hell was Liam doing anyways? Louis stood by his locker for a few more minutes, waiting for Liam to come back out but as time ticked on it became apparent Liam wasn't coming out anytime soon. 

The school bell rang out, signalling the sea of students that class would begin in five minutes. Louis groaned at the thought of having double biology but relaxed a bit when he remembered Miss Cobain was now their new biology teacher. Miss Cobain had replaced Miss Pendleton after Louis's class drove her to insanity and she was forced to take an early retirement. Louis still remembers the exact moment she passed out from anger in the middle of teaching the reproductive system. 

Louis couldn't help but feel slightly bad for Miss Pendleton, she wasn't that bad of a teacher and it was mainly Louis's fault that she decided to retire early. Louis smiled at all the times he nearly drove her crazy. 

Louis looked around and noticed that the corridors had quietened down and that it was time for him to head the class. He was already warned by Miss Cobain that if he was late again she'd put him on detention and Louis couldn't afford to miss his football match on Friday. If the coach got word that he was in detention again, he'd definitely get kicked off the team. Coach Grey didn't care if Louis was his best player, if someone on his team was doing badly in school he'd drop them in seconds. 

Just as Louis was about to leave he noticed the doorknob to the bathroom jiggle. Louis quickly hopped around the corner, out of site from Liam and stood by the stairway. Louis checked his watch and saw that class started in exactly thirty seconds. Louis decided he could sprint to the other side of the school building in exactly twenty seconds so there was no need to worry. 

As he waited for Liam to appear behind the locked door, all the questions he was wondering earlier came flooding in. But his train of thoughts stopped when a certain person exited before Liam. 

Louis stared for a few seconds before realising that he was in perfect view for this person to see him and come to the conclusion that he was spying on them. Louis ducked back around the corner and took a few breaths before turning around to look again. 

This time Liam had joined the person as they both stood outside the bathroom door. Louis took note of how Liam's arm was wrapped around their waist tightly as he whispered something in their ear causing them to laugh out loud. Louis was surprised no teacher came out of their classroom to shoosh them. 

Louis also took note of how Liam's hair was much more messier than how it was when he walked in and Louis was also sure people didn't come to school with clothes looking all messed up. 

As he heard the final bell ring out throughout the school grounds, Louis jumped up. He began sprinting across the yard, leading him to the other side of the school building completely forgetting about the scene that was unfolding right in front of his eyes. 

As he hiked up the stairs leading to the science labs, skipping two stairs at a time, he saw Miss Cobain walking down the hallway opposite of him. If Louis wasn't sprinting before he certainly was now. 

All he had to do was get into the classroom, sit down, get out all his books and copies before Miss Cobain had her right foot into the classroom. Easy right? Louis thought as he nearly slammed into a couple of students who were also rushing into class. 

Just as he finished leaping up the last set of stairs, he noticed Miss Cobain starting to walk a little faster. He cursed at his short legs for not carrying him fast enough and he sprinted into the classroom and practically leapt into his seat. Not caring about the massive scene he was causing. 

He was used to that by now.  

He slammed his book open, thankful he had placed his copy in between the chapter they were currently studying and positioned himself on the stool being careful not to lose balance and fall off.

Just as Miss Cobain placed her right foot into the classroom, Louis felt someone poking his back from behind him and Louis suddenly realized he was still wearing his sports jacket. As fast as he could, Louis took off his jacket, nearly tearing it off in the process. If there was anything he learned from being in this school it was that the uniform policy was strict. And if being late to class didn't land you detention, not wearing your full uniform definitely would.

"Glad to see you've joined us for class today Louis," Miss Cobain said as she placed her work bag up on top of her desk. Louis smiled back at the response before smirking.

"You know I wouldn't miss this class with you for the world," he replied cheekily before winking at the older woman. Miss Cobain couldn't help but let out a laugh as the giggles around the room started to form. 

Louis grimaced as he heard the familiar, loud, obnoxious laugh of Perrie Edwards coming from the back of the science lab. 

Miss Cobain shook her head as she began wiping the board. "Then Louis, please tell me why you've missed three out of the five classes we've had this week and please don't tell me you were out playing cricket or whatever you boys play these days. I swear to God, Kelvin is using any excuse to take you boys out of class just to knock a ball around."

A few more laughs could be heard around the room as Louis narrowed his eyes. Now don't get Louis wrong, he loves Miss Cobain and he's sure she enjoys his company too but sometimes that woman can get on his nerves. 

"It's actually football and for the record, I was actually sick with-" Louis started as he leaned forward on his desk but was quickly interrupted by Miss Cobain. 

"Yes, yes, sick with man-flu I'm assuming? I swear you boys cough once and you'd swear you were dying of some fatal disease. Anyways Louis as much as you and I both love having these chats I'm afraid we have to get on with today's lesson," Miss Cobain said as she turned around and began scribbling something on the board. 

Louis felt the nudge of his classmate beside him. A few positive comments were thrown about in Louis's direction before everyone turned their attention back to whatever Miss Cobain was writing on the board. 

"Today, class, we will start the work on your final projects. As you know this is a group project and so you will all be working in pairs."

The class erupted in chatter as people began discussing who would be their partner and Louis heard a few girls fight over who got to be paired with Calum Hood, this hot Asian guy in their biology class. Or at least Louis thought he was Asian, he never spoke to him and he never spoke to Louis so Louis really had no clue who he was. All he knew was that a bunch of the girls in the school fancied him.

"Now, now, before I get your hopes up I have some heart-wrenching news," Miss Cobain said sarcastically as she threw a bundle of papers on her desk. 

"I'll be the one assigning partners"

Usually, Louis would be pissed off not being able to choose who he got to partner with. However, none of Louis's friends was in this class and he thought it'd be worse if they had to pick their own partners. Of course, Louis was friends with particularly everyone in the whole school but there was no one in this class who would have Louis as their first choice in this project. 

Louis knew most people thought he was a typical football guy who slacked off in school and dated all the hot girls but quite frankly Louis was the exact opposite. 

While Louis was stuck in his head arguing against the stereotype society had placed him in, he hadn't even noticed Miss Cobain calling out names until he suddenly heard his.

"Harry Styles, I'm sorry to say that you're partnered with this charming young chap named Louis Tomlinson."


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis finds out how tall and beautiful Harry Styles is.

"Who the hell is Harry Styles?” Louis asked, spinning around on his wobbly stool which almost caused him and the stool to go toppling to the ground. As Louis re-balanced himself and cursed the school's cheap budget under his breath he looked up to see the whole class staring at him.

“Shit did I say that out loud?” Louis asked dumbly looking around the room hoping they were all staring at him because of his dashing good looks and not because of what he may or may not have said.

“Tomlinson, watch your language,” Miss Cobain warned as she went back to listing out the partners for the experiment.

Louis heard a cough from beside him which prompted him to turn around and greet the coughing stranger. As Louis flicked his hair out of his face, reminding himself to get it trimmed soon, he came face to face with whom he assumed was Harry Styles. 

"So you must be this Harry Styles?" Louis asked, changing positions so his chin was resting on top of his hand. Louis took in Harry's features and quickly came to the conclusion that Harry Styles was a gorgeous human being, maybe too gorgeous to be real, was he dreaming?

Louis snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Harry's lips moving, quickly trying to pick up on what Harry was saying. 

"Actually no, I'm Satan himself, here to tell you that your time is up, goodbye" Harry joked, dropping his stuff on the table and grabbing a stool from the corner. 

"Oh thank God, I don't think I could last another day in this  _actual_  hell hole," Louis said playing along. Louis flicked his eyes over to Harry's copy and was surprised to see little doodles and drawings spread out over the front cover. Besides the small doodles, the copy was well kept unlike Louis' whose front and back covers were missing and black ink was staining the front pages. 

Louis looked at how messy his copy was and quickly tucked it into his book realizing that it made him look like a bad and lazy student, which was the quite the opposite of how Louis saw himself.

"Oh bad news bud, I hate to be the one to break it to you but this is actually hell and you'll be trapped here forever," Harry whispered as he began to write down what Miss Cobain was writing on the board. 

Louis let out a snort causing the attention to fall back onto him again but he quickly took out his pen and began writing notes pretending it wasn't him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Harry shaking his head, causing his curly hair to bounce. 

"So soft," Louis thought, he was tempted to reach out and stroke his hair but then stopped himself when he realized how creepy that would be. 

"As you all know this project will be worth twenty-five percent of your final grade so don't mess it up." Miss Cobain started to explain but Louis' thoughts quickly drowned her out as he began thinking of when his next football match was. 

Louis really needed to impress Coach Grey since he was aiming for the captain of his school's football team but currently, his arch nemesis, Zayn, was holding the title. Louis felt his jaw clench as he remembered how he and Zayn were once close friends.

Louis felt a nudge coming from beside him, causing him to snap out of his hateful thoughts. He looked up to see Harry walking over to where the lab coats hung on metals pegs stuck to the wall. Louis quickly jogged up to Harry as they made their way to the back of the classroom. 

"To be honest I wasn't listening to a word she said, so what are we meant to be doing?" Louis asked, looking up at Harry who he noticed was several inches taller than him. Louis wondered why he had to end up on the short end. 

Harry's face fell and Louis quickly groaned realizing the terrible fate they were both in. 

"I was going to ask you the exact same question," Harry whispered-yelled but it wasn't really quiet. Actually, Louis didn't even think it was a whisper. Louis made a mental note that Harry was not good at whispering. 

"Well then, I guess we're fucked," Louis muttered, dragging his fingers through his hair. This was worth twenty-five percent of their final grade and Louis knew biology wasn't his strongest subject. 

"Ah don't say that! I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake, the instructions are on the board, I think?" Harry answered, pointing towards the very vague instructions Miss Cobain had scribbled on the board. 

Harry reached up and grabbed a white lab coat off the coat hangers with ease and slipped it on over his uniform. Louis awkwardly stood there for a second contemplating if he should ask Harry to grab one for him or if he should climb on top of a stool to reach one. 

Louis reminisced to the last time he climbed on top of a stool just as the vice principal had walked in. As soon as the vice principal saw Louis standing on one of the rickety stools he began yelling in his loud, scary, vice principal voice which had startled Louis causing him to lose balance and fall on top of some asshole who he vaguely remembered being called Tom. 

Louis shuddered as he remembered how he had to stay back after school and scrape gum off from under all the desks. 

Louis definitely didn't want to land himself another date in detention but he also didn't want to lose his pride and have to ask Harry to get a coat for him. 

Harry noticed Louis' puzzled face and began to wonder why it was taking him so long to get a lab coat. A sudden wave of realization hit Harry and he stifled a laugh. Harry reached up and grabbed another white lab coat and handed it to Louis who was lost in thought. 

"Come on buddy, we don't have all day," Harry said while patting Louis on the back. 

As soon as Louis snapped back into reality he began to blush in embarrassment.

"Stupid Harry Styles, why does he have to be so freakin' tall?" Louis muttered under his breath as he slipped on the lab coat. Harry stopped in his tracks after hearing Louis' comment, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his height. 

Without realising Harry had stopped in his tracks, Louis kept walking and ended up crashing straight into Harry's back. Louis stumbled back and was ready to call the idiot who stopped in the middle of the aisle out until he realised it was just Harry and calmed down. 

"Come on buddy, we don't have all day," Louis joked, repeating what Harry had said to him only a minute ago. Louis noticed how well the lab coat fitted Harry and how it was the perfect length.  He looked down at how he was being swallowed up by the white stained fabric. 

They made their way back to their desk without any other interference and looked at the equipment set out in front of them. 

"Okay, how hard can this be?" Louis asked, picking up a beaker and a glass container of white powder.

If only Louis knew what was in store for them.


End file.
